Flames vs. Hurricanes: Yegor Sharangovich's Late Winner Ends Carolina's Seven-Game Streak

Brandon Bussi's water bottle went flying. So did Carolina's seven-game winning streak.

Yegor Sharangovich one-timed a Morgan Frost saucer pass into the top corner with 4:28 left, Devin Cooley made 34 saves, and the Calgary Flames beat the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday night. It was Calgary's second win of the season and its first on home ice, and it came against a team that walked in having won seven in a row.

A Quiet First, Then a Wild Final Two Minutes

For a period, this was a goalie showcase. Neither team scored in the first, which was no small thing for the Hurricanes, who were playing the second half of a back-to-back after a 3-2 win at Winnipeg on Saturday.

Carolina broke the seal at 6:09 of the second. Nicolas Deslauriers and Eric Robinson did the dirty work below the goal line, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi flipped home a loose puck past Cooley's right pad for his second goal in as many games. Coach Rod Brind'Amour gave the linemates the credit. "He just tapped it in there," he said, before praising the work that created the loose pucks.

Then the final two minutes of the period turned into a highlight package.

Matvei Gridin tied it at 18:30 with his first goal of the season, snapping a wrister from the high slot that beat Bussi high on the glove side. Matt Coronato, playing in his 200th NHL game, had the assist. Sixty-nine seconds later, Frost, playing his 400th NHL game, tapped in a Zayne Parekh feed on the power play to give Calgary a 2-1 lead at 19:39. Joel Farabee started that sequence for his team-leading fifth assist.

Carolina answered just 17 seconds later. Jalen Chatfield fired from along the far wall, the puck threaded a maze of bodies, and it beat Cooley high to the glove side at 19:56. Three goals in 86 seconds. Somebody tell the Saddledome scoreboard operator to stretch.

"That was my best game so far this season, so I've got to just build on it," Gridin said.

The Turning Point: Frost's Saucer, Sharangovich's Snipe

The third period belonged to Calgary, and Carolina's own players said as much afterward. The Flames came up empty on a power play after a Kotkaniemi high-sticking minor at 3:09, kept pressing anyway, and at 15:32 the pressure paid off.

Frost floated a saucer pass across the slot, and Sharangovich hit it on the fly. No settling, no hesitation, just a one-timer roofed into the top corner for his second goal of the season. According to the AP, the shot sent Bussi's water bottle flying. Jake Middleton picked up the second assist.

"I felt like in the third, they turned the tides on us, for sure," Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said. "We just probably gave up way too much."

Bussi went to the bench for an extra attacker late, but Cooley shut the door.

Cooley's Unconscious Brain and Frost's Big Night

Devin Cooley was the story behind the story. His most recent appearance had been a 7-3 loss to Colorado on Oct. 8, when he allowed seven goals on 30 shots, according to NHL.com. This time he stopped 34 of 36 for a .944 save percentage. His explanation was one of the best postgame answers you will hear all month.

"I'm a really bad conscious-brain goalie, if that makes sense, so I just let my unconscious brain do everything," Cooley said. "Don't think about anything, don't have too much fun, don't smile too much, just shut it off. Then I just start making saves."

Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist on a milestone night, scoring the power-play go-ahead goal in the second and setting up the winner in the third. Coach Ryan Huska said that is exactly what Calgary needs from its power-play group. "They've made some nice plays on it, so they are the guys that we expect to be the difference makers for us in close games and they were that tonight," he said.

Yegor Sharangovich played 16:42 and scored the only goal of the third period, which is the most efficient use of ice time imaginable.

Brandon Bussi made 31 saves for Carolina and was solid most of the night, but he had little chance on the two top-corner snipes.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Carolina 36, Calgary 34. The Hurricanes outshot the Flames and still lost, which tells you how good Cooley was.
• Power play: Calgary went 1-for-4, Carolina 0-for-2. The difference was Frost's tap-in.
• Faceoffs: Calgary won 56.9 percent of the draws, though Sebastian Aho won 16 of 24 for Carolina.
• Jalen Chatfield logged 22:33 and scored his first goal of the season.
• Three goals in 86 seconds to close the second period turned a 1-0 game into a 2-2 game.

What It Means

Carolina falls to 7-2-1 with 15 points. NHL.com noted the Hurricanes entered with seven straight wins and a franchise-record five straight on the road, and both runs ended here. Brind'Amour was not interested in excuses about the schedule. "This is the no-one-feels-sorry-for-you league," he said. "We just regroup. We still created a ton of offense. (We hit) three or four goalposts." He also said the result would not have changed his view, "because we're giving up way too much." The Hurricanes visit Vancouver on Tuesday.

Calgary improves to 2-6-0, still deep in a hole after a 6-2 loss at Vegas on Thursday, but with proof it can play with the league's best. Huska said as much. "We need some good things to happen, because they're putting in a lot of good work in different areas and tonight it was nice to see them get rewarded against the team that is the standard right now," he said. The Flames host Minnesota on Thursday.

Closing Take

Ted Lasso told his players to be a goldfish, the happiest animal on earth because it has a 10-second memory. Cooley has apparently taken that advice and run it through a philosophy seminar. Ten days after giving up seven, he turned off his brain, stopped 34 shots and snapped the champs' seven-game run. Calgary's season is still a long climb. Sunday was a pretty good first step.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and notes from NHL.com; additional reporting from the Associated Press.